Two Communities, One School - Educational Leaders and Parents/Caregivers Talk Across the Divide in an Urban High School

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Family involvement is treated as essential to education, yet traditional engagement models often underperform for minority and lower socio-economic status (SES) communities. This qualitative case study examines perceived barriers to involvement and identifies knowledge gaps between school leadership and personnel versus parents and caregivers in an urban high school district. Interviews and focus groups reveal systemic patterns producing two closed, sometimes conflicting stakeholder communities within the same physical school space.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Family involvement: expectations and limitations

Barriers in minority, low-SES urban schools

Parental involvement vs parental engagement

Literature review: Epstein’s framework

Two Communities, One School: Educational Leaders and Parents/Caregivers Talk Across the Divide in an Urban High School Shannon N. McCarthy, Jenna M. LaChenaye , D. Keith Gurley, and Larrell L. Wilkinson The University of Alabama at Birmingham Abstract Family involvement has emerged as an essential component of education with the expectation that school leaders strive to engage families in their children's learning effectively. Yet traditional models of "involvement" often fail families in minority, lower socio-economic status (SES) communities. This qualitative case study documents perceived barriers to involvement and identifies gaps in understanding between two groups of stakeholders – school leadership and personnel and parents and caregivers in a lower SES, minority, urban school district. Data collected in individual interviews and focus groups revealed systemic patterns that have created two closed and sometimes conflicting communities inhabiting the same physical space. Keywords: Urban school, urban education, family involvement, parent involvement, parent engagement The facilitation of family involvement and engagement has long been established as a best practice in schools that positively affects academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes for students (Epstein, 1995; Jeynes, 2016; Ross, 2016). Educational leadership standards, promulgated by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), established the expectation that school leaders and other school personnel strive to engage families effectively (CCSSO, 1996) . Nevertheless, for minority families with lower socio-economic status (SES) in urban schools, multiple barriers to such involvement persist, barriers such as lack of resources, limited parental abilities, and limited time available to enable involvement and engagement (Brown et al., 2020; Hornby & Blackwell, 2018; Jeynes, 2015 Murphy, 2010; Reynolds et al., 2015; Wassell et al., 2017) . The terms parental involvement and parental engagement have been used interchangeably in the related literature. Recently, several authors have delineated the difference between these two concepts (Goodall & Montgomery, 2014; Hill et al., 2004; O'Toole, 2019) . Hill et al. (2004) characterized parental involvement as parents' interactions with the school to promote student academic success. Involvement, however, denotes school agency, as opposed to parent agency, meaning that parents participate in structures and processes created by school personnel. Parental engagement, however, is qualitatively different and is one wherein parents and caregivers take part in their children's education process through structures and processes that they helped to co-create. Engagement suggests strong parental ownership or agency. Goodall and Montgomery (2014) proposed a conceptual continuum with parent involvement on one end and parental engagement on the other. For school personnel, a lack of training in family engagement strategies and tools, some evidence of insensitivity, and the prevalence of traditional practices of involvement can make it difficult to surmount these barriers and work effectively with families (Murphy, 2010) . While research has documented the barriers as mentioned above, few studies have explored the barriers that exist at the high school level in minority, low SES urban schools with the goal of understanding first-hand any divisions or conflicts that may exist between families and schools in these communities. Without a closer, real worldview of what is happening in these schools and surrounding homes, it may be difficult to close the achievement gap for at-risk students and the larger population as a whole. Literature Review "The way schools care about children is reflected in the way schools care about the children's families. " (Epstein, 1995, p.81) Scholars have been increasingly investigating the family's role in the educational equation since the mid-1990s when Joyce L. Epstei

FAQs

What does the study investigate about family involvement?

It examines perceived barriers to family involvement and identifies gaps in understanding between school leadership and parents/caregivers in a lower SES, minority urban school district.

How does the paper distinguish parental involvement from parental engagement?

Parental involvement is framed as interactions with the school to promote academic success, emphasizing school agency. Parental engagement is described as parents and caregivers taking part through structures they help co-create, implying stronger ownership or agency.

What research methods did the study use?

The study used individual interviews and focus groups to gather data from school stakeholders and parents/caregivers, revealing systemic patterns that divide communities within the same school space.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen